Martin Brundle says Lando Norris “lacks the killer instinct” as F1 title bid falters

Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle believes Lando Norris will “learn a lot” from his pursuit of this year’s world championship.

Norris’ sixth-place finish at the F1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix means Max Verstappen could take the title next time out at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

After starting from pole position at Interlagos, Norris lost the lead into Turn 1 to George Russell.

The timing of the Safety Car/red flag proved costly as Norris dropped down to fourth, but two mistakes later on pushed him down to sixth as he lost out to Russell and then Charles Leclerc.

Assessing Norris’ title bid, Brundle told Sky Sports News:  “It's [about improving] everything at the level he's at. He's had some amazing victories and not least in Zandvoort and Singapore where he just ran off and hid, a little bit like Max.

“But he lacks the experience of challenging for a world championship and I think that's a whole new set of challenges and rules - and that's what he will learn from this year.

“Sometimes you wonder if he lacks the killer instinct up against Max, who we know can be pretty brutal in combat.

“But I think Lando will learn a lot from this season, and Max winning seven of the first 10 races pretty much put him out of reach really.”

Ahead of the grand prix, Brazil looked to be the turning point in the championship that Norris needed.

He was set to line up on pole, with Verstappen down in 17th as he served his engine penalty.

However, it didn’t materialise with Verstappen nearly certain with his fourth drivers’ title.

“If you add all that up together, Lando needed to take a chunk of points out of Max every single race and hope that there was his team-mate and a Ferrari or two, and even a Mercedes or two, between them,” he added.

“But one turnaround, like in Brazil, and that little escapade was over by and large unless a lot of bizarre things happen now in the final races.”